When he arrived in New York City in the 1950s to start his career, crooner Johnny Mathis said he fell in love with Broadway through musicals such as "West Side Story" and "My Fair Lady."

Mathis said he wanted to become a stage performer, but his business manager persuaded him to stick with being a recording artist, where he could earn more money.

But the 77-year-old never abandoned his love for musical theater and some Broadway tunes will be on his set list when he performs March 9 at the Sunrise Theatre in Fort Pierce.

Mathis is better know for ballads such as "Misty" and "Too Much, Too Little, Too Late," and was one of the last crooners to emerge before the rock-dominated 1960s. He has about 90 releases under his belt, ranging from Broadway tunes to Christmas music to his latest country-influenced album, "Let It Be Me — Mathis in Nashville."

For the latest album, Mathis said he was inspired by his father, who grew up in Texas and used to listen to country music and play the piano. The family moved from Texas to San Francisco when Mathis was a child. Throughout his career, Mathis has recorded all the songs his father used to play.

"I never quite knew how he learned those sophisticated songs," Mathis said. "He had seven kids and he was raised in the South ... . He took me around to all music halls in San Francisco. He wanted me to find a voice teacher."

Mathis found a voice teacher, a woman who lived across town from him and who taught him for free. He said he used to take a 50-minute streetcar ride to her house. He would sit in a corner and do his homework while she coached paying students. She would teach Mathis in between sessions.

"I learned most about voice direction by listening to other students make their mistakes," he said.

His next album will feature duets with artists such as Billy Joel and Vince Gill, Mathis said.

Throughout his career, Mathis said he has been inspired by the genre-breaking Nat King Cole. Like Cole, who recorded some songs in Spanish and a few in Portuguese, Mathis will sing Brazilian songs during his concert at the Sunrise.

He was first introduced to Brazilian music in his 20s when he, a friend and Miles Davis saw a Brazilian movie, "Black Orpheus," at a small movie theater on the east side of New York City.

"I sat and learned all these songs in Portuguese," Mathis said. "Some of it sounds really good. Some of it sounds like an American singing Brazilian music."

Still performing as he nears 80, Mathis said he has taken care of his voice by quitting smoking and exercising. He hurt his voice at the beginning of his career by performing 101 nights almost consecutively and then again, Mathis said, when a "guru" prescribed him amphetamines saying they were vitamins.

"I was lucky that before I harmed myself I got away from him and got back to the reality of good nutrition and good exercising," Mathis said.

A track and field athlete at San Francisco State University, competing in high jump, Mathis was invited to try out for the U.S. team for the 1956 Olympic Games. That same week, he received a telegram from a Columbia Records executive asking him to go to New York City. Mathis quit track and field and has not practiced the sport since.

However, he discovered golf and always found a YMCA to play basketball. Today he exercises with the help of a personal trainer.

"Singing is a physical activity," Mathis said. "The stronger you are physically, the better you can produce the tones."